2013 National Teacher of the Year, Jeff Charbonneau, a high school science teacher from Washington, shares what it’s like to be the Teacher of the Year and gives some great ideas for classroom teachers. Jeff’s philosophy centers around his understanding of the power of developing relationships. Tune in to episode 33 of the most popular education podcast hosted by brothers! –

President Obama chose to honor one of our very own, among the 3.2 million, with the National Teacher of the Year award, Jeff Charbonneau. Jeff will now serve as the 2013 National Teacher of the Year for the 2013-2014 school year, traveling nationally and internationally as the ambassador for America’s teachers.

Jeff is a National Board Certified Teacher and began teaching science at Zillah High School in 2001. He has been instrumental in creating a series of demanding STEM offerings. In 2013, students will be able to earn college credit in four of Jeff’s classes. Jeff fills his plate with responsibilities designed to engage all kinds of students. Like many great teachers, Jeff is an advisor to a host of clubs, including drama and science. As the yearbook advisor, Jeff led his students in a historical preservation project to digitize all of Zillah’s yearbooks from 1919 to 2002.

Jeff has also designed an exciting robotic challenge open to students from across the state, which alone has served over 850 students from 43 school districts over the past 4 years. These opportunities have dramatically increase the interest in science at Zillah. This year over 60 percent of juniors are registered for Chemistry and one-third of seniors will take Physics. There is no doubt that Jeff has put his education to good use and has accomplished so much, making him the recipient of the Alumnus of the Year Award.

We’re convinced there’s no place on earth where Mr. Charbonneau wouldn’t forge friendships, learn valuable lessons and find a rich array of teaching experiences to bring home to his students in Zillah, Washington.

We have enjoyed seeing Jeff tackle some cross-cultural challenges with impressive results, and every step of the way he’s breaking down global borders and increasing cultural intelligence (CQ).

In this great video, “Charb” (as his students like to call him) identifies three surprising insights he gained from just his first few hours in China. They include:

Seattle Times Op-Ed peice about Washington State adopting the Next Generation Science Standards.

By Jeff Charbonneau

When I teach chemistry in my lab in Zillah in Yakima County, I’m teaching the same concepts that my colleagues in Aberdeen, Seattle and Bellingham teach. In fact, these concepts don’t change whether you’re in Capetown, South Africa, or Katmandu, Nepal. Chemistry is chemistry.

But the standards to which our students are taught are often vague, inconsistent from one place to another or even nonexistent. That makes it harder for students to move between schools or districts.

It makes it harder for teachers in different states to share ideas and best practices. And it makes it difficult for employers and colleges to judge exactly what students have learned.

Also, students have traditionally learned the sciences largely in isolation. They learn biology one year, chemistry the next year and perhaps physics after that — without the holistic integration that characterizes real scientific inquiry. And finally, the real-world field of engineering is often overlooked when we teach science in schools.

The Next Generation Science Standards, which Washington state just adopted, will help change all this. These new standards are rich in content and practice and arranged in a coherent way across subjects and grades to provide students with an internationally benchmarked science education.

The Next Generation Science Standards come on the heels of the Common Core State Standards in other subjects. Both have generated some controversy. Teachers, parents and the general public should not find these new standards threatening. They are not a radical change, but rather are a carefully judged update and revision of what Washington students have been learning for years. Washington state has had standards-based science education for more than a decade.

Standards are not the same thing as curriculum. Teachers will still be able to teach in their own individual styles, taking into account the unique characteristics of their student populations.

This means that in Zillah I will still teach chemistry using the demonstrations and lesson plans that are relevant to my students, making my teaching personalized to their experiences. The standards provide a common set of goals that science teachers everywhere can use to help their kids achieve. The standards are a common destination, leaving the route up to the teacher and their students.

We have already essentially adopted these standards in my classroom in Zillah. Although nearly half of my students come from low-income families, I challenge them to reach for college-level sciences. I’ve helped forge partnerships with nearby colleges so students can earn college credit in physics, chemistry and engineering. Our graduation rate is 96 percent. These are the kind of effects that come from setting high standards and helping students achieve them.

My fellow teachers are rightfully concerned that learning these new standards and learning how to reach them will require extra time and resources that their schools do not have. That is why the state and local school districts must pair the adoption of these standards with training time and tools to help teachers help students achieve the standards.

We must make these investments and embrace these standards because our students will face global competition when they enter the workforce.

Washington state is home to some of the most prominent employers of scientists and engineers in the world — Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, PATH, GE Aviation, the list goes on. Those employers recruit from around the country and around the world, searching for people educated to the highest standards.

We should be teaching our students to the same standards so our employers can hire homegrown talent. The Next Generation Science Standards will help get us there.

Jeff Charbonneau is the 2013 National Teacher of the Year. He teaches science at Zillah High School.

“You can do it!” Nothing instills confidence like these four words. It is important that you encourage your children to try everything good, and good for them. When a subject in school seems difficult for your children, you must get them to try it until they “get it.”

“Meet 2013 National Teacher of the YearJeffCharbonneau, a teacher who greets his students each day with the words, “Welcome back to another day in paradise.” In Charbonneau’s classroom, self-limiting words are off-limits as he believes “student (and parent) confidence is the largest obstacle facing education.” This high school chemistry, physics, and engineering teacher from Zillah High School in Washington state says, “my greatest accomplishments are revealed each time a student realizes that he or she has an unlimited potential.”

“Zillah Science teacher Jeff Charboneau won named National Teacher of the Year in June. Since then he’s traveled over 25,000 miles and 11 states. He will head to China next month. Last Friday he was on the “Mike Bastinelli Show.” He talked about what his last two months have been like and what the next 10 months will be like.”

“We hear a lot these days about certain people having “The X Factor” – that non-specific set of special somethings that makes them an unstoppable force, a real generator of greatness in their chosen field.

Many of us have known someone we thought might have it, and just thinking about who is on TV and the radio at the moment, most of us can name dozens of people who seem to have it. All of us have probably had, at one time or another, a wish that we possessed this elusive X-Factor ourselves. Indeed, perhaps you actually do.”

“Celebrating education is not something that we see often in the media, as journalists are usually caught up reporting violence in schools or program and budget cuts. That wasn’t the case on April 23, 2013.

Much like the cool breeze that swept across the White House Rose Garden that day, there was hope in the day’s fresh air when President Barack Obama welcomed our country’s 54 greatest educators named in this year’s National Teacher of the Year Program from each state and four territories.

My own anticipation of visiting the White House for this event reminded me of the anticipation as a kid when my parents broke the news of our first trip to Disneyland: “WOW! I am really going?!” (pitter-patter, pitter-patter… que tossing and turning in bed the night before).”…..

NEA Today – “Speaking to nearly 9,000 fellow educators gathered at the National Education Association’s Representative Assembly in Atlanta, Georgia on Friday, the 2013 National Teacher of the Year Jeff Charbonneau proclaimed to the enthusiastic crowd that, make no mistake, there is much to be proud about public education in the United States.”

High school teacher Jeff Charbonneau is a man on a mission. He wants to make chemistry and physics and engineering—the “hard” sciences he teaches at Zillah High School in Zillah, Wash.—more accessible and more engaging for students. He does that by creating interactive learning experiences, like the Zillah Robot Challenge, to help students learn and develop confidence in their abilities.

May 3, 2013 on NewsTalk KIT Radio, Yakima, WA with host Mike Bastinelli. “Charbonneau was a guest on Thursday’s Mike Bastinelli show. he talked about his journey to become teacher of the year, his award ceremony and meeting President Obama.”

CBS Evening News: April 23, 2013: Very brief clip from White House ceremony shown as part of a story about a hacking of the Associated Press’ Twitter feed. Story starts at 7:41, and ceremony clip is shown at 8:34 – http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50145493n

Congratulations to Jeff Charbonneau. He won the 2013 National Teacher of the Year award. Charbonneau found out that he had won when he recieved a phone call from Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn. It was announced nationally today on the “CBS This Morning Program.”

He and the group of State Teachers of the Year from which he was selected, will visit President Obama at the White House on Tuesday. They met on Monday with Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Biden and a longtime educator.

-CBS This Morning
-Meeting Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden
-White House Ceremony with President Barack Obama
-Gala Dinner at the Institute of Peace
-Meeting at US Department of Education

January 28, 2013 on NewsTalk KIT Radio, Yakima, WA with host Mike Bastinelli. “He talked about becoming the state teacher of the year, his trip to Washington, D.C. next month for his national teacher of the year interview, and challenging his students in Zillah to be the best.”

WEA: Washington State Teacher of the Year video biography created by the Washington Education Association. Features classroom shots, student interactions, etc. Filmed in October of 2012. (6 minutes, 33 seconds):

Zillah High School science teacher Jeff Charbonneau was announced as the 2013 Washington State Teacher of the Year on September 17, 2012, at Seattle’s Experience Music Project. This segment includes Jeff’s introduction as the ESD 105 regional finalist, OSPI superintendent Randy Dorn’s announcement of Jeff as the State Teacher of the Year, and Jeff’s acceptance remarks.
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ESD 105: “Jeff Charbonneau, a Zillah High School science teacher and a leader in STEM education, is the Educational Service District 105 Regional Teacher of the Year for 2012-2013! ESD 105 superintendent Steve Myers made the surprise announcement of Jeff’s selection during an assembly before the staff of the Zillah School District on August 21.”